i hope you dont find this rude or mean or anything but i would think someone who is gay would not like him that much...doesnt he not agree with gay marriage or something? i know there was some gay rights issue that he differed from his wife and daughter on

10/1/2007 10:30:56 PM

Quote :

"i hope you dont find this rude"

I don’t mind at all, I’ll answer any question from the perspective of a "gay voter." But this isn’t the only reason I plan on voting for him.

Meeting him and talking to him in person, I’d vote for anyways, hearing him speak about the big picture on how environmentalism and poverty in africa and the middle east are all interconnected and how’d he address that, I’d vote for anyways, hearing him talk about his plans for Iraq, and leading on healthcare, I’d vote for anyways. I don’t agree on every specific, and I know you can find faults with any man, and with any plan, but I have read all the issue sections for the candidates, and I have watched all the debates and forums, and I see his campaign’s philosophy & approach to the issues both open minded and thoughtful in a way that makes me think they could make good leaders even if the individual courses of action they would take are different from my own.

and yeah, his wife is totally pro gay marriage.

hillary is civil unions yes, gay marriage no.

obama is civil unions yes, gay marriage no.

edwards is civil unions yes, gay marriage no for now, but i'm still examining the issue.

He’s the only one of the top 3 that can later on say gay marriage yes without being accused of flip flopping. He has described it as a journey where he’s been continually moving left, from a starting point of originally not showing support for civil unions at all. He says according to his religion he’s not that excited about gay marriage, but that he wont govern based on his religion because he’s sent he trouble that can bring.

He's the only one both fluid on the issue, and moving left. With the other two there is 0 chance I'll be married any time before its too little and too late, because they've set themselves in stone.

He's moved on issues before, such as the iraq war vote that he apologized for, vs hillary who stuck by her yes war vote.

A politician who can say I was wrong, is part of the philosophy I was talking about, which makes me think he could move left on gay marriage, but also that he could make good president too.

10/1/2007 11:05:54 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/02/campaign.cash/index.html

Quote :

"In a conference call Monday, John Edwards' campaign announced the former U.S. senator from North Carolina raised $7 million during the third quarter. Edwards, the party's 2004 vice presidential nominee, said last week he would accept public financing for the primary and general election campaigns, challenging Clinton and Obama to do the same. Edwards' deputy campaign manager, Jonathan Prince, said the campaign has $12 million in cash. Prince said public funding will add $10 million to its totals. Edwards has raised more than $30 million so far, and the campaign is on the right track to reaching its goal of $40 million by January, Prince said. "

10/2/2007 5:34:27 PM

Quote :

"Prince credited the campaign's aggressive grassroots outreach and said Edwards received donations from 150,000 Americans, with 97 percent of the contributions less than $250."

also from CNN, I meant to post that with the last part

10/2/2007 7:07:37 PM

Pretty sure I'm the first to break this to you, but he's done. He's dropped significantly in Iowa, and everyone knows that he had to win Iowa in order to even think about the nomination being attainable.

10/4/2007 6:21:03 PM

Quote :

"With John's commitment to public financing, every dollar we give—up to $250—can be matched. Your contribution of $50 to the campaign today can become $100. A donation of $100 can become $200. And so on. But to get this extra money in time, we need to submit our first matching funds request by November 1."

Quote :

"For the past year, you've come through at the end of the every fundraising quarter by giving what you could in the final days to help us reach our goals. But this quarter is different. What we raise at the beginning of the quarter has twice the impact of what we raise at the end."

^Their latest e-mail they sent out shows they are going for a fundraising boom this month. If they can't pull that off, then I'll believe it. I know money and polls mater a lot in politics, but Iowa fluctuates alot, and I won’t write off someone who is considered a top tier candidate this early. Even so, there's still always the spot of VP that might be open, but I'd much prefer Edwards at the top of the ticket than Hillary.

10/4/2007 6:54:17 PM

They've been trying to go for a fundraising boom every month. Edwards just spent time in Kentucky convincing people that fundraising numbers dont matter. But to everyone that he asks for money, he talks about how crucial the effort is... granted he's a politician, but he can't win talking out of both sides of his mouth on this one....

10/5/2007 2:04:04 PM

"They've been trying to go for a fundraising boom every month"

They are also looking for support in other ways, not just financially, although to some degree any campaign for the presidency of the United States does require money.

Quote :

" Close to one million SEIU members choose Edwards because he has the strength and vision to win both the primary and the general election Des Moines, Iowa – Today, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) state councils from Iowa, California, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Michigan, West Virginia, Ohio and Oregon announced they have endorsed Senator John Edwards for president, totaling close to one million SEIU members. Representatives from several of the ten state councils joined Edwards for a press conference at the Eckstein Medical Research Building in Iowa City. The endorsements will allow these SEIU state councils, which collectively represent over 930,000 members, to organize efforts to turn out caucus goers on Edwards' behalf within Iowa, and in any other state where the SEIU state councils have also endorsed Edwards. SEIU state councils across the country will be determining their endorsement decisions in the coming weeks. "John Edwards is the only Democratic candidate with the vision, leadership and strength needed to win, not just the primary but also the general election," said Dave Regan, representing the state councils of Ohio and West Virginia. "In the battleground states that I represent, Edwards' broad appeal and strength at the top of the ticket will help Democrats in races at every level. He will help us build a true mandate that will bring real change to Washington, end the war in Iraq, bring truly universal health care, labor law and immigration reform – and these are the things that will improve the lives of working families across America." "

I think this article points out two good things for his campaign. One is, that despite not having the most money coming in like Hillary, there is still a lot of life and potential in this campaign. Having man power to get out the vote in the early states can be just as effective as money in some ways if not more so. And secondly it points out, that while Hillary is doing pretty well among democrats, Edwards has appeal to a broader range on the political spectrum for the general election.

Here’s a few numbers to go along with that general election statement.

Quote :

" "Behind the Horse Race Numbers: Edwards Strongest Democrat in General Election Match-ups" - Douglas Schoen, Rasmussen Reports October 4th, 2007 http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/behind_the_horse_race_numbers_edwards_strongest_democrat_in_general_election_match_ups The most recent Rasmussen Reports data show that all of the most likely Democratic nominees lead their strongest prospective opponents. At this point John Edwards appears to be strongest in individual match-ups leading Giuliani by 9%, Thompson by 10%, and Romney by 11%. Hillary Clinton holds almost as big a lead, but falls just short of Edwards' margin. She leads Giuliani by 5%, Thompson by 8%, and Romney by 9%. Barack Obama holds a more narrow 5% lead over Giuliani, a 6% lead over Thompson, and a 3% lead over Romney. How do we explain these findings, in the wake of Edwards' third place showing in Democratic primary trial heats? First, one naturally points to Edwards' southern roots. Since John F. Kennedy's victory in 1960, the only Democrats to win the Presidency were southern Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Second, Edwards--despite his current left wing rhetorical appeal--is actually perceived as more conservative than either Clinton or Obama. Overall, 44% perceive Edwards as liberal in comparison to 51% who perceive Obama as liberal and 57% who see Clinton in this way. By contrast, 13% characterize Edwards as conservative, compared to 8% who see Clinton and Obama in this way. Finally, Edwards at this point demonstrates the greatest appeal to Independents beating Giuliani by 13%. Obama wins Independents by 5% and Clinton wins them by 3% against Giuliani. Douglas Schoen was President Bill Clinton's research and strategic consultant during the 1996 reelection campaign."

10/16/2007 3:10:12 PM

http://www.charlotte.com/209/story/335264.html

10/26/2007 11:58:39 AM

^ Beat me to it...

The student in question, whom is currently at UNC, is also an NC State undergraduate.

Additionally, having seen the video, I honestly don't know why the Edwards campaign went up in arms in the first place

Quote :

"A UNC-Chapel Hill professor says John Edwards' staff tried to kill a student's video story. The professor, retired political reporter Leroy Towns, writes on the journalism school's Talk Politics blog that the Edwards' campaign demanded a student journalist take down the video she had posted on YouTube. The video focuses on Edwards' campaign headquarters in Chapel Hill's affluent Southern Village. It includes an interview with a columnist for the Daily Tar Heel, the UNC-CH student paper, who criticizes the location as contradictory to Edwards' advocacy for the poor. The segment had been produced for the school's Carolina Week television program, but student Carla Babb posted it online as an entry in an MTV contest. Edwards staffers then tried to persuade the professor to kill the story, Towns writes. He declined. Towns writes the experience was instructive: "The Carolina Week staff learned the importance of standing their ground against a disgruntled source, even when that source is a candidate for president. PR students saw firsthand how a public relations mistake can turn a small non-story into a potential national story. Very instructive.""

10/26/2007 5:58:16 PM

^ That's useless without a link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb8r0XIZs7Y

I can't believe that the campaign is getting upset about a video in which the lead critic of their location quotes "the poet Jay-Z."

I like the guy...but good Lord, stop it...this is just embarrassing.

10/27/2007 12:04:08 AM

That's mostly because John Edwards is a huge douche.

10/27/2007 12:44:50 AM

It's made Drudge and the NYT

Congrats Carla, NCSU alum!

10/27/2007 9:23:53 AM

supplanter, I admire your conviction.

I just dont think Edwards has a chance, and imho that is a good thing

10/27/2007 9:45:05 AM

I'm not much of a fan of the poet Jay-Z

10/27/2007 10:40:09 AM

I guess that someone in the Edwards staff thought that they could bully a student quietly about something they didn't like. Of course, they made the mistake of trying to bully the journalism school, especially a professor of the journalism school at a high profile school like UNC. That's just asking for it.

I also find it amusing how basically one NC State alumni / UNC grad student led to the political embarrassment of another NC State alum / UNC grad...

10/28/2007 1:09:13 AM

^I think it silly for any bullying to go on in regards to sharing that story. But its also not a great story to begin with. At least the national HQ is here in NC rather than Washington. It would be much more difficult to try to run a national campaign out of a poor or unsafe area. You need resources, community involvement, volunteers, and a lot of other things to run a campaign. There are a lot of politically active families and community around Southern Village.

A fellow tdubber pmed this to me, so I thought I'd share:

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1679953,00.html

Quote :

"Has John Edwards' Moment Arrived? A pitch perfect debate performance, key union endorsements and a bold new television ad campaign: Could this be the moment that presidential candidate John Edwards finally gets some momentum? Edwards' campaign has seen a surge of online support of late, often a barometer of how well any candidate is doing. They've raised $500,000 in the last two weeks over the Internet, $200,000 of it the day after the Philadelphia debate, at which Edwards was by most accounts the clear winner. Even more importantly, the campaign says 40% of recent donors were new to the campaign. The cash infusion comes on the heels of a series of important union endorsements for Edwards, who trails in overall fundraising behind both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama by more than $50 million. Edwards has won support from seven Iowa unions — a huge boon to the campaign because it effectively shuts out Obama from bringing in any outside organized labor support. Obama has no Iowa union endorsements; Hillary leads the field with eight. "

11/3/2007 1:04:53 PM

Quote :

"Nor is it that John Edwards seems like a furry animal on a wheel, trying so hard, to the point he's getting a facial tic, and getting nowhere, failing to get his little furry paws on his prey, not knowing you have to get off the wheel to get to the prey. You have to stop the rounded, rote, bromidic phrases, and use a normal language that cannot be ignored."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/

That's funny and true.

11/7/2007 5:22:03 AM

personally i wish it was the mulatto versus the Mormon

11/7/2007 5:25:45 AM

All my volunteering at the campaign hq, bringing in others to volunteer, conversations with individuals, and donations, will prove worthwhile or wasted tonight. I do honestly believe that if he wins tonight, he will be the next president of the united states. I hope after tonight I can feel like I've done my small part to help change the world for the better.

This is from a recent one on one interview with a CNN reporter.

Quote :

"EDWARDS: And whoever comes out of Iowa with momentum is going to have more money than they know what to do with. I mean John Kerry raised millions and millions of dollars just in the period of a few hours and days after the Iowa caucus, when he won in 2004. Money will become irrelevant once somebody wins the Iowa caucus. CROWLEY: But you can't raise but a certain amount of money. I think that's what they're saying here, is that they can raise as much money as they want and spend as much money as they want. You can't. EDWARDS: But the problem with what they're saying is, if they don't win the Iowa caucus -- the winner of the Iowa caucus is going to have huge amounts of money pouring in. And if you're taking public financing, a huge percentage of that will be matched by the federal government. So I think as a practical matter, I'll have plenty of money to run this race. But I don't think we're going to have an auction, I think we're going to actually have an election."

I know he can't make as much money as the others, but if he wins Iowa then it gets real. He'll still have plenty of money, even if its not the same levels from certain interests that the other candidates get in donations, but it'll be plenty to run a winning campaign with the momentum that could start tonight.

I just noticed this thread started last Jan is nearly a year old now.

1/3/2008 8:36:35 PM

I think if he gets atleast 2nd, he may still end up the white house, either as pres by doing well in other early states, or maybe with the VP nod...

but even if he doesn't do well his campaign still put some of the right ideas into the forefront and I'm glad to have been a part of that. His campaign is the reason universal health care was also later added by Obama and even later by Hillary. His campaign also pushed the ideas of change in Washington, and a focus on the middle class, and broader ideas of hope and equality. And for all that the campaign of ideas was worthwhile, even if it doesn't put a specific man into the White House.

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 9:45 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2008 9:35:52 PM

he won't take VP for two reasons...first, he just won't and second, could you honestly see obama or hillary taking him on as a VP? obama/edwards would be a weak ticket, and clinton/edwards just seems awkward.

yes he brought up a lot of good ideas, but he ran a pretty crappy campaign. made a lot of bad decisions along the way that brought him to the point where everything was bet on Iowa. it didn't work, and it won't work going forward. he doesnt have the financial ability nor the political support to get the nod.

1/3/2008 10:56:07 PM

somewhere in the land of crazy they may think he'll help carry NC

1/3/2008 10:56:54 PM

Quote :

"obama/edwards would be a weak ticket"

why do you say that?

who would be a viable running mate if obama got the nod

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 10:58 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2008 10:57:38 PM

not enough experience between the two of them. obama would need a biden type to be viable against a mccain/? ticket.

^biden, maybe a governor/former governor from a southern state? he just needs someone with a foreign presence, especially with the pakistan situation coming to the forefront of recent news.

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 11:00 PM. Reason : ^]

1/3/2008 10:59:29 PM

Obama/clinton ZING

Seriously, Edwards is the least qualified candidate of both fields.

1/3/2008 11:07:09 PM

i'd vote for obama/clinton before i'd vote for clinton/obama

Quote :

"who would be a viable running mate if obama got the nod "

biden or richardson def.- roddy said some dude from florida to win florida

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 12:09 AM. Reason : .]

1/4/2008 12:08:57 AM

Clinton will not go for VP, she will then be shooting for Majority Leader in a few years in the Senate, and hell, they have loads of power.

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 12:10 AM. Reason : Edwards is toast]

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 12:11 AM. Reason : that is Senator Nelson from Fl, very popular]

1/4/2008 12:10:04 AM

edwards doesnt deserve to be in there honestly...

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 12:14 AM. Reason : ^wasnt saying i thought she'd be vp...just saying i'd rather vote for that than the other]

1/4/2008 12:14:04 AM

Obama/Clinton wouldn't work so well just b/c they've made their campaigns so different. Change vs experience and people choose change. Edwards campaign also had a message of change. Edwards & Obama were the 1st & 2nd to make universal health care a priority in this campaign, they've both had messages of change & hope & unity (although obama has been stronger on the unity), they've both been strong against the war (Obama being against it from the start, Edwards apologizing for his decision, whereas Hillary said stood by her decision based on the info she had). Whether or not he is interested in Edwards as a VP, I doubt he'd want someone like Hillary who would both overshadow and contradict him in some ways. And while Edwards is no Bush, he has more of the "from the south" appeal than Hillary would ever have.

with 100% reporting
Obama 38%
Edwards 30%
Hillary 29%
Richardson 2%
Biden 1%

Compared to relative amounts of money spent, to come out above a front runner like Hillary, I don't think the race to end up somewhere in the white house is over just yet.

[Edited on January 4, 2008 at 6:18 AM. Reason : .]

1/4/2008 6:14:07 AM

^Can you rewrite that post so it's not so horrible to read?

1/4/2008 6:44:31 AM

Quote :

"who would be a viable running mate if obama got the nod "

Nobody. Seriously, can you see this in the debates:

O: "Well in my less than one term in the Senate I ____________"

vs.

G/R/Mc: "Well as Mayor of New York City / as Governor of Mass / as a Naval Aviator, POW, and long-time Senator I _____________"

He'd get trounced. Hell, if she wasn't married to Bill Clinton, Hillary wouldn't be anything special either. Looking at Iowa and the early New Hampshire polling, Obama might actually have a shot, and in my little world, that ceeds the Presidency to the Republicans unless they nominate Paul or Huckabee.

That being said, Obama doesn't have the stigma of being a New England / New York liberal, so I don't think he needs a running mate from the South. Richardson or, as LunaK suggested, Biden.

1/4/2008 6:55:56 AM

Quote :

"Change vs experience and people choose change. Edwards campaign also had a message of change."

Huh?

All the campaigns, whether it was Dem or Republican had a message of change. Nobody would run saying that things were doing okay and we should just keep doing what we're doing.

Obama was able to push the undecided. I think they were a little sick of edwards, and didnt want another Clinton in the white house.

1/4/2008 9:34:54 AM

1/7/2008 10:56:36 AM

^
Does he realize all the "Corporate Greed" that went into the making of that basketball he's using for a photo-op? Not to mention all the Corporate Greed it took to create the txes that paid for the gym.

By the way...are the clothes he's wearing Corporate Greed-Free?

Just wonderin.

1/7/2008 10:32:42 PM

SHOOT THE J.

1/8/2008 12:47:55 AM

Vote ABE in 2008!

1/8/2008 1:54:02 AM

oh shit i forgot to pm you back

1/8/2008 1:54:36 AM

Looks like the Edwards campaign goal might be to get atleast 3rd for NH & NV to go along w/ their silver in Iowa so as to stay in doing decently until SC. He had 4th in NH last year, so a 3rd this time around is atleast an improvement. He won in SC last time, the state he was born in, and the last campaign state to go before super tuesday. I think being a leader heading into super tuesday is a good strategy for them at this point.

Personally I would prefer Obama in the White House to Clinton, but a Clinton win in NH will keep Obama & Hillary shaken up a little which is the best for Edwards having no inevitable & powerful front runner to have to fight.

1/8/2008 9:05:15 PM

If Edwards could get closer to 20% I think thats good mojo for going into SC.

However there's no way he'll pull that out unless the fighting between Obama and Clinton get negative and heated and turns voters off. Then he could be the recipent of votes like he was in 2004 in Iowa.

1/8/2008 10:02:49 PM

^He has lead on ideas, even if he's not leading in the numbers But I agree he needs good numbers to stay in, so we'll see how south carolina goes.

Quote :

"As Paul Krugman writes today in The New York Times: "On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party's policy agenda. He's done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures." And as Christopher Hayes writes in The Nation: "The fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal health care plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power." In this campaign, John Edwards has led the other candidates in standing up for progressive change. As Ezra Klein writes in The American Prospect: "Much more so than Obama, it was Edwards who forced a new style of politics, untethered by the fear and timidity of the 90s, adamant that liberalism was an electoral boon and economic justice a popular sentiment. Knowing they had to defend against his challenge, both Hillary and Obama edged closer to his appeal. "It left the Democrats in a much stronger position overall, and forced them to argue for, and commit to, a much broader and more inspiring agenda than we otherwise might have seen." In this campaign, the other candidates have followed John's lead in talking about the special interests -- but the special interests understand the difference between rhetoric and reality. That's why corporate lobbyists are united against John Edwards. As Kevin Drawbaugh reports for Reuters: "Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same -- Democrat John Edwards. One business lobbyist said an Edwards presidency would be a 'disaster' for his well-heeled industrialist clients. 'I think Hillary is approachable. She knows where a lot of her funding has come from to be blunt,' said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Stanford Group Co., a market and policy analysis group.""

1/14/2008 4:06:23 PM

I think Edwards would have much more support in the area if he didn't have such a spotty record as senator here.

1/14/2008 4:29:26 PM